St. Jospeh's Academy senior Kirista Menghini had no ordinary weekend. Krista competed late Friday night and Saturday evening in Kansas City for the state championship in volleyball. In between that time Krista traveled to Jefferson City and finished all-state in leading her team to a third place finish in state cross country championship. The Menghini family was kind enough to share this magical weekend through Krista's words and the camera lens of mom Terri.
November 3, 2010 11:30pm Wednesday
Right now I should be sleeping, but I’m not… What I am doing right now is packing, two bags to be exact: one for cross country State and one for volleyball State. I’m making sure that I don’t forget ANYTHING.
I have been smiling so much for the last couple of days; which isn’t really saying much though because I am always smiling. Especially this week, I must admit, I am pretty ecstatic. A few days ago I found out that my cross country team is ranked third in the state. This is great news because the best my school has ever finished in the State meet is 11th place. Also, individually I am ranked sixth; I am so stoked about that! Then, my volleyball team is ranked number one. Of course I don’t believe rankings mean anything, but I do think they are fun to look at.
The big question that I have constantly been asked this week is, “how are you going to do both cross country and volleyball State this weekend?” The plan is: Thursday morning I will leave for Kansas City with my volleyball team. We play at five, seven, and nine Friday night. After the final game my family and I will hop in the car and head for Jefferson City. I will race in the morning at nine. Finally, we will go back to Kansas City where my volleyball team and I will either be playing in the finals or for third place that night. I know that this will be a busy weekend for me, but I also know that I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. I love cross country and I love volleyball. I am just so thankful that I am able to do both.
November 4, 2010 11:50am Thursday
The volleyball team and I decorated the outside of our bus with window markers for State. Parents took plenty of pictures and they even gave us fun goody bags for the long trip. The best part of the morning was when we were leaving St. Joe. Students and teachers gathered outside the front of our school with posters and cheered. It was nice to see our school support us and wish us good luck. A few miles into the trip, the much anticipated question of what movie we were to watch first was asked. We decided on Pearl Harbor. Overall I enjoyed the movie, even though I slept through most of it… My team is obsessed with quotes, so when we heard the line, “Victory belongs to those who believe in it the most,” it sort of became our motivation for the weekend. This trip is going to be so much fun, and I can’t wait. Kansas City here we come!
November 4, 2010 8:40pm Thursday
Earlier, we practiced at our sister school St. Teresa’s Academy. It was a successful practice because no one got hurt. Lately after each practice we have been visualizing about how we want to play this weekend. Not only did I visualize myself playing volleyball, but I also thought about me running in my race. I just want to do the best I can in both cross country and volleyball. Later we took a tour of the Municipal Auditorium, the playing facility that our matches are in this weekend. After the tour we ate dinner at Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque, a place we eat at each year that we make it to State. It’s quite an interesting place because famous people like Sarah Palin have eaten there before. When we return to our hotel we pack our bags for the games tomorrow. My two fellow senior roommates blast music as we prepare our volleyball bags. I am so glad I am rooming with them because they are seriously the funniest people I know; they always find a way to make me laugh. They do a great job with distracting me and getting my mind off of tomorrow.
November 5, 2010 7:00am Friday
Every morning for the past few months I have been waking up at 5:30am to run. Early on I decided that it would be a good idea to get my workout finished before school so I wouldn’t have to worry about fitting it in later. Since it would be so dark outside when I ran, my mom made me wear a highlighter yellow vest. As embarrassing as the vest was, I took pride into wearing it and laughed along with the people that made fun of me. Today, we are allowed to sleep in until nine. Since I am so accustomed to waking up rather early, I wake up way before I need to be. I try falling back asleep, but I can’t.
Staring at the ceiling, I begin to feel nervous about what’s ahead of me. I worry about the matches we have today and I worry about if I’m going to get enough sleep for my race. Then I remember that a lot of other people probably are as scared as I am. For some reason I get more nervous for racing than I do for volleyball. I think it’s because I have trained so much and so hard and I’m just dying to show people what I can really do. After races I find myself constantly saying “I know I could have run faster.” My hope is that on Saturday I won’t be able to say that. I just have to believe and trust in my training, and I do.
Then my mind drifts off to thinking about my cross country team. They are leaving school today around 11:45am and I am sad that I can’t be a part of the excitement like I was for volleyball yesterday. I just think though how happy my team must be and it just brings a smile to my face. Then I remind myself that this weekend I have a mission. A great mission that many would describe as “mission impossible” or even crazy. But like many know, my favorite thing to do is to surprise people and do the impossible.
November 5, 2010 10:45pm Friday
We ate at Denney’s for breakfast earlier today. I ordered gingerbread toast and extra crispy hash browns – something that I would never eat before a race, but for volleyball it doesn’t really matter. After breakfast we drove over to the Municipal Auditorium and watched the Class 2 teams play. During the game I get a text from my mom that said, “I hope you are people watching today.” I was confused so I replied back, “haha why’s that?” I should have known that her response would be, “so you are off your feet!” My mom is so funny because she wants me to have as much energy as I can for the race tomorrow. After a while we head back to our hotel. We all pretend to be relaxed in our rooms, even though we know we are all anxious and nervous. Later we head back to the gym. Before we play, a photographer takes a team picture of us. At this time we are all super hyper and can’t sit down. We are ready to play.
We found out that we made it into the finals after our last match. As my team discussed where to go out for dinner to celebrate, I made the announcement that it is time for me to leave for Jefferson City. Everyone rushed over to me and gave me hugs and wished me luck. My family let me have the front seat so I could stretch out my legs. I really wanted to have pasta for dinner but I had to settle for a grilled ceaser chicken rap from QT. To keep myself relaxed I listened to Taylor Swift on my iPod for the whole ride. All throughout the drive my good friend Alex Potter, a runner from De Smet, sent me every little detail about the State course through text. I tried to picture everything I read but it was just so much to think about. The information was very helpful though and I was so thankful that he did that for me. We get to the hotel at 1am and I get to bed around 1:30.
November 6, 2010 7:20am Saturday
My family and I are in the car and ready to go. I got five hours of sleep but I actually feel wide awake. The car’s temperature says its 34 degrees outside. Luckily, my mom surprised me with a big warm hat that I have been asking for her to buy all week. I eat a granola bar and drink some orange juice. I’m ready to race.
November 6, 2010 11:40am Saturday
I am on my way back to Kansas City. Looking back on the race I wasn’t nervous at all. I think it’s because I had the comfort of my team on the line with me. Moments before the gun went off; I gave my best attempt at giving an inspirational/motivational speech to my team. After getting us all pumped up, we knew we were ready. My team started in box 26, the box furthest down the hill. The whole race felt like a battle. The part of the race that I remember the most is the last 600meters. I remember people shouting at me that I was in 11th place. I wanted so badly to get top 10. Somehow, something gave me that drive to give it my all the last hill. Sure enough, I got tenth. Not only was I more than happy about my individual finish, but I was overjoyed when I found out that my team got third. It truly was an honor to stand on the podium with my team. We have trained so long and so hard all season. It’s one of those moments that I will remember forever.
I was able to see some of the races after mine since my volleyball match is not until 5:30. It was exhilarating chasing the runners around the course and cheering for them. I am glad that I got to stick around to watch for a while.
Something that really made my day was getting interviewed by Rockwood Summit’s Curt Wood for MileSplit. I was thrilled when I was asked to be interviewed by him; I have always wanted to be interviewed for MileSplit! Since I had just finished my race moments before, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight so I kept stuttering and I talked way too much. I think the interview is hilarious but I cringe every time I watch it because of how embarrassing it is.
November 6, 2010 11:00pm Saturday
I remember tears coming to my eyes before the last point. I remember the look on all my teammate’s faces. I remember the massive dog pile we had. But most of all, I remember running up with my senior teammates to retrieve the State Championship trophy. It’s one of those moments that one can’t really explain; it must be experienced to understand the feeling. I can still picture hugging all my teammates and crying because I was so happy. A whole season of hard work was finally paid off.
Many would describe the weekend I went through these last couple of days as crazy, but I describe it as the best weekend of my life. I am so thankful that my school, coaches, and teammates allowed me to do both sports this season. I am also grateful for all the encouragement my friends, family, and classmates have given me. I just want to say “thank you” to everyone that believed in me and supported me along the way. I love both my cross country team and my volleyball team more than they will ever know. Thanks for a great season and a great weekend girls.